trying to enjoy the miles

Wow. It's been awhile since I've written and I have a really good excuse. Life has been utterly crazy. Running has been pushed to the wayside, and therefore I have essentially nothing to blog about. But I've been going through a decently rough time recently, and while trying to work through it I came up with this quote. "It's not about finishing the race, it's about each and every mile it takes you to get there."So I'm trying to remember (as I count down until the days I'm done with Grad school and student teaching) that I need to enjoy the miles.

postpone

So heres what has happened in the last month. the Friday after I ran that 7.5 miles I got seriously ill. Could not move and just slept for 32 hours straight. I had a cold for the whole next week that was pretty bad. I tried to run on Thursday and Friday figuring if I could pick up a 3 mile, 4 mile, and a 5 mile on Sunday I would be able to do the following long runs over the course of 5 weeks: 5 miles, 7 miles, 9 miles, 11 miles, 6 miles, and then 13.1 miles. Unfortunately I was so sore on Saturday that I didn't think I'd be able to do 5 miles on Sunday. Then, on Sunday, I accidentally skipped a step on our stairs and twisted my ankle. I had to take another week off of running, thus ruining my chance to complete my training and not overwork myself. It has been so hard to find the time to even run 2-3 miles on a week day that I really just think that training right now is not going to work. I think I may have convinced a few girls in the Elementary Ed program to run one with me next spring/summer. So heres to hoping.....

It's not hard to fall, when you float like a cannonball

Long run today did not go so well. I'm just too exhausted. I got 8 hours of sleep last night, but it's just not enough to catch up for the whole week, and I need more hours in my day to get everything done. Seriously. Anyway I ran over what I used to call the "bridge of death" and back. The bridge wasn't that difficult. Unfortunately my foot fell asleep a few times and during the last mile I seriously felt like I was going to pass out. But I completed the 7.5 miles. I might take an extra rest day this week, just because I have something going on every single night this week.

There is too much going on in my life, and I don't want to give any of it up, but if something ends up going it's probably going to have to be running. I wouldn't give it up completely, but I might have to cut back.

Under Ten!

I ran 4 miles yesterday and I finally got my mile time under 10 minutes! This may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but this is really good for me, considering it was a 4 mile run.

One super annoying thing happened though (so I had to take a short 2 min break in the middle of the run.) My right foot fell asleep. I was wearing my new shoes, so I wonder if they just need to get worn in? I stopped to adjust my sock, massage the foot for a minute and loosen the laces in the shoe. I was then able to run my last 1.2 miles home. I hope this problem doesn't consist. I also hope I can keep up with training, because my schedule is going to be absolutely insane. This week I've been getting done with student teaching early and starting late. Since most of our week has been getting to know you activities and going over rules and routines there hasn't been too much to prepare for teaching, so I've been getting done at about 3:30 or 4 instead of 5. Hopefully I can keep up as I get to some of my longer weekday runs. Tonight is my first speed work training. I know you don't need a track to do speed work, but I found one that is about a mile from my house, so I might do a run there as a warm up and then a jog home as a cool down. We'll see how much time I have. The Packers are playing tonight, so I really want to watch their game. Go Pack Go!

Runners High!

My first long run was splendid. I've been logging my runs on mapyourrun.com. I planned a route from my house, over stone arch, to a playground, and back. Unfortunately this route was closed because there was a half marathon going on (the one I was originally supposed to do.) This, however was super motivating. I ran to Marshall street and back, and really wanted to keep going (runners high), but didn't want to injure myself, so I stopped. Turned out I had ran 5.5 miles. Woohoo!

The rest of the week was insanely stressful. I didn't run at all again until Friday and this run was not good. My feet are so sore (from standing all day) and full of blisters (from new shoes) plus my new shoes aren't worn in yet. I only did 30 minutes of running and was completely exhausted. We will see how the rest of training goes. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with the schedule.

The Real Beginning!

Holy mother of Jesus it's been a long time since my last post. Today was week one of training and for the most part it went well. Here is the official schedule.

I was super stressed on Thursday and was only able to get through 32 minutes of running. Also I hiked 5 miles for work on Wednesday, so I only did a short hill training session. Today I did 41 minutes and it was a morning run that went fairly well. This week may be rough with starting school and moving, but we'll see how it all goes.

Today I maxed out my credit card for the first time ever on these suckers.

A highly necessary purchase. These are size 9 Asics GT2160's. They are the same model of the ones I have now, except that they are the female 2011 version instead of the male 2010 version. I also had to get some more professional short sleeve shirts (no AC in the school I'm working in) and underwear. Total I spent $170 today....yikes. Good thing I get paid on Friday. Unfortunately, rent is due on Thursday....

10 Ways You Know You are a Serious Runner

1. You are  excited about spending all the money you've saved up this summer on a new pair of running shoes. Seriously. Not that I wouldn't like to be buying dressy shoes for student teaching next year, but i'll live with the ones I have. I'd much rather have new running shoes.

2. You start to understand the importance of a good sports bra. The $10 ones are okay for when you are running 3 miles a few times a week, but anything over 4 and you need more support. I now have invested in 2 decent bras. Totally worth the $50.

3. You devour the latest Runner's World Magazine. My dad has now sent back 4 issues with me, and the other ones I browsed through, looking at pictures, and reading a few interesting articles, but this one is getting analyzed in depth. You'll never guess which article I just finished? It was about the benefits of running hills!

4. You understand the benefits of rest days. When I was only running 2 miles a day rest days weren't really needed. Now I can feel myself dragging along if I run 4 days in a row without some cross training or rest.

5. Music matters less and less. I used to have to stop 10 times to switch music. Now I'll be 2 or 3 minutes into a song before I realize I don't really like it. And by then what's the point of taking a break? I still like picking out slower paced songs for longer runs and faster ones for short runs. I have to make sure I don't tire out too easily.

6. The reason you do laundry is because you are out of running clothes. Usually I run out of clean bras or shorts. This was a first. All I had left in my running drawer was long sleeve shirts, leggings, and paper thin bras. It was sad.

7. You have to run to the store just to pick up your favorite recovery food. Out of Bananas and Frozen Yogurt? How am I going to make Peanut Butter Banana Shakes?!?! (This is why I'm not losing any weight.)

8. You limit your drinks at night because "I have to run 6 miles tomorrow." I've used this excuse about 10 times and never have I ever run 6 miles. But I will....in 3 weeks when I start training!

9. You plan out meals based on how far/when your next run is.

10. You start dating your running buddy. Haha....just had to add this one for the pure laughter. I know my running buddy/boyfriend will get out of it. But seriously...who has time for a relationship and running? Why not combine the two? Plus, running is a great way to get to know each other. And if a guy likes you sweaty, in gross running clothes, and with your hair in a pony, then chances are he'll love you all dressed up and cute ;-P

On Getting Through the Hard Miles

I had an epiphany the other night as I was trying to fall asleep, and it was something I desperately wanted to blog about, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly what it was. I have some sort of idea, although this seems dumb in comparison to what I thought of in bed, which seemed legendary, but I guess I'll blog about it anyway.

Life is similar to running in so many ways. In running, you reach rough days, and days with miles that are easier to get through. There are miles where you feel fantastic and have fun. These miles fly past you. Then there are the miles where you have to focus on your goals, and the final prize. You have to center your balance and breathing, focusing on each and every step.

In life there are days that go by quickly, un realized and unimportant. Then there are the easy and fun days, the ones that keep you living. And then, of course, there are those hard days. The days that cause you to focus on your balance and breathing.

The thing is that if it wasn't for these rough runs, there would be no improvement to running. They say that with no pain comes no gain. This isn't true. We can gain from days and runs with no pain, but those days would seem so meaningless if it wasn't for the days and runs where we have to exert everything within us.

So sometimes I have force myself to go onto the next mile, until I get to the mile that reminds me why I love running so much. And so, I will simply force myself to work through the hard days until I get to the 1 day that makes me realize how truly great life is.

The Monster Dash

So we have officially decided on the Monster Dash, which will take place on October 29th. The only thing that now remains to figure out costume ideas. Since the race takes place the weekend of Halloween everyone dresses up in costumes to run the races, and their is a costume competition. Therefore, me and John are looking for creative couple costume ideas that are easy to run in. If you think of any let me know. So far our best ideas are as follows
1) Fried Chicken and Waffles. problems- not sure how to go about finding costumes, and we aren't sure if people would get it.
2) Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. problems- not sure I could run in antlers
3) Ketchup and Mustard. This seems too easy to me.

Anyway, training will start in about 2 weeks, I found a great 10 week training program. So I'll post again when I get a schedule all written up. So excited!!!

Redemption comes in many shapes, with many kinds of pain

So, I have officially created a training schedule and found a half marathon to run the last weekend in August. The plan was that if I could keep up with the training for the next 2 weeks, when I'm working extra and have class, then I would be able to complete it all and I'd sign up for the race. Given the circumstances of extreme weather I have not been able to keep up. I've skipped a few run, and made some runs shorter than they should have been.

Today I completed my 6 mile run, or my 5.85 mile run. It did not go well at all. I was so warm, plus the antibiotics I'm on right now many me nauseous, and cause my skin to burn easily. I forgot to put on sunscreen, so 30 minutes into the run I looked at my shoulders and realized they were already pink. Plus I hate running in the heat. If that isn't enough reason to not run a half marathon in August, John (my running partner who was going to run it with me) hurt his knee a few weeks ago and needs some serious recovery time. So we discussed it last night and decided to postpone it to late September or October.

I'm currently looking at the Maranatha's Road Race on September 17th or the Monster Dash on October 29th. If we do the first one then my training program that I started this week would be pretty accurate. If we do the October one then I can pos-pone training for 3-4 weeks, and just keep doing an average of 20 miles a week. I'll keep you posted!

One Mile at a Time

Sorry It's taken me so long to write again. It's been truly insane! Needless to say my running has taken a back seat to my work, school, and small social life. Sleep deprivation is not a good way to run. I try and get out at least 3-4 times a weeks, and most of these are around 4 milers.

John is currently trying to convince me to run a half marathon in the end of August and if life wasn't going to be so crazy in the next few weeks I totally would. 3 weeks left and I'll be done with class, but in those 3 weeks I will potentially be working more hours. The family I work for has adopted 6 children already and the mom and dad leave for China on Friday to adopt 2 more! I'm super excited for them, but it means a lot of work on the part of many PCA's while they are gone. As John puts it I just have to get through one mile at a time. But I still haven't gotten to do an entire 6 miles (trust me I've planned to do a few times, but it just never works out.)

I'm still woking on my pacing which means going slower, but much farther. I've also been trying to work on decreasing my heel striking these last few weeks, as I'm sure it's probably one of the reason my ankle was so bad for awhile. In good news: I went home in June and while I was there my chiropractor took a look at my ankle and did some adjustments and it hasn't hurt since!

Guess that's all for now folks. Sorry if this seemed quick and undeveloped. Just had to get it all out quick. Now back to homework.

I Heart Hills

I've been doing a lot more running recently thanks to my awesome running buddy. The best part is that where I used to be running 2 or 3 miles almost everyday on my own, I'm now running 4-5! incredible! The best part about these runs in definitely the hills. haha....

So, I hate hills. I always feel like I'm going to die when I get to the top of them. So John, being the nice guy that he is, tries to speak words of encouragement to me as I force myself to the top. First he spoke utter nonsense about becoming one with the hill and focusing my energy and breathing. This didn't help. Then, one day he told me that I just had to convince myself that I love hills. And....well, I'm trying my best.

Anyway after getting my topic proposal back, and severely critiqued at class last night, and thereby having a serious mental breakdown after arriving at home, I thought about what a great motivation this would be for all of us in life. Why not tell yourself, "I love hills. I love the obstacles that stand in my way."  Really, that's all these rough patches are. They are just hills, and once you get to the top of them you will feel like you have accomplished something truly great. So this is how I want to try to approach life from now. With an "I love hills!" attitude.

Improvements and Failures

I'm super happy because I'm finally starting to feel the benefits of all my hard work. Recently I've been able to run further distances. I used to feel like 2 miles was long, but since I've been working on pacing myself I've been going further distances. Thursday I went hiking at Minnehaha Falls with the kids all day and thought I'd be way to tired to do my long run. I set out to do 3 miles and ended up doing 4.5. And if it wouldn't have been for the mountain of homework waiting for me I might have gone further. Friday I did about 4.5 miles again. So happy :)

Minnehaha Falls was a blast, and I think I might try to get a group there to do some trail running. I've been running with some guys who are training for a half marathon in the end of July. I go on there 3 and 4 mile days with them, and while they've tried to convince me to do 6 miles with them I refuse. It'd be nice to take a group to the Falls, because there are portions of it that would be dangerous to run, but also very fun.

In other news, I accidentally ate meat on Friday. Just a small piece of ham on pizza, but I've decided I'm going to start re aquatinting my body with it. At work I just eat whatever they provide for me for lunch, and it hasn't been super difficult yet, but I know it will get harder as time goes on. I'm still going to eat mostly vegetarian, but I want to get back to the point where I can eat meat, if I want to, without getting sick. I had a tiny bit of beef last night, and my stomach is killing me today (although this could also be from the insane amount of alcohol I drank last night.)

New Schedule

My summer schedule is about to get a bit more crazy. Tomorrow I start, not only my full time summer job, but also my writing intensive summer school class. This is going to make it a bit more difficult to work out. Monday and Wednesday will consist of work all day and class all night, so working out is probably out on those days. So here is the schedule.

Monday- exercise as much as possible at work with kids. They either walk to class and ride bus home or bike to and from class. Try to run or walk a mile in the morning (if i'm not too exhausted.)
Tuesday- 3-4 mile run
Wednesday- Same as Monday
Thursday- Run 5 miles
Friday- run 3-4 miles
Saturday- Run 3 miles
Sunday- Run 4-5 miles

The "Running Club"

There are so many things to be gained from becoming a runner. I know I discussed my top ten reasons in a previous post, but there is one main thing I forgot to mention.

If there is one thing you can count on as a runner it is that at the end of every bad run, and at the top of every rough hill there will be someone to encourage you that you are better than you think you are, and that you can run faster, harder, and farther.

There is such a thing as a "running club." Some people you may meet with to run often, others, every once in awhile, and there are some people you merely chat with about types of shoes, trails you enjoy, or races you hope to someday enter. They come in various shapes and sizes, with very different experience, all with one common interested: Long Distance Running. But once you are in this club you will be hard pressed to find a way of escaping it.

Running With Dad

Yesterday night I ran with my Dad and his running buddies. We drove out to the country, and went for a 5 mile run. I ran with his old assistant cross country coach, his current cross country coach, and a girl who is training for Grandma's marathon in 2 weeks.

So I was able to keep up for the first 1.5 miles and then started falling extremely behind. I ended up walking a lot of the hills, but my dad was super nice and kept running back to check up on me. I was happy I was even able to finish.

We ran out on the country roads. It was strange to run on gravel instead of concrete. Afterward my arch on my right ankle was super sore. I rubbed and stretched it out good, but it hurt a little bit this morning. Hopefully It won't turn into anything too bad.

Cheese Chase Race

Length: 2 miles
Time: 19:36
Mile time: 9:33
Place overall: 90th out of 297
Age/Sex place: 3rd out of 41
Comments: This was a good first/easy race. It was 80 degrees and humid, so awful running conditions. I took the first half mile fast, and then had to stop to take a few 15 second walking break. It was just too damn humid. As soon as Damien Rice's rootless tree came on my iPod I sprinted. When I saw the clock I was hoping to make it in 19:30, but I'm still proud of this time, considering Junior year of high school my mile time was around 11 minutes. Afterwards we got dilly bars, and were supposed to get subs, but they had no vegetarian options :( We then stopped to get a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Pre race picture

Post Race Picture

Pacing/ Eating Healthier

Things are already getting way crazier than I want them to be. And worst of all, I'm under way more emotional stress than I would like to be. Thankfully I've had time to run almost every single day. I haven't been running far, but I am able to do 2-3 miles a day, and once in awhile i get up to 3.5 or 4. I've been trying to work on my pacing. I'd rather be able to run further distances at a slower rate than to take constant breaks from running to walk.

This weekend I run my first ever race, and while it is only 2 miles, I've put a lot of thought into how I'm going to pace myself. So, I present you with:

The Cheese Chase Mix
One More Love Song by Leon Russell
Breathe by David Gray
Fix You by Coldplay
Brokedown Palace by the Grateful Dead
Rootless Tree by Damien Rice

I've ran at a slow pace for most of these, and the last one just makes me want to sprint, because i feel it so much right now. this will be the perfect way to end the race.

I've also been trying to eat more healthy. More fruit, and more veggies. I try to have fruit and veggies at every single meal. My problem is I still always crave sweet/ creamy things at night. This is a habit I really need to kick. I've tried to stop eating after 8 pm, but today I didn't even get around to eating dinner until 8:30, and for some reason I really enjoy late night snacking (also a habit I need to kick.)

My Dinner on Monday night: broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, and carrots, grilled in butter and garlic. served with 2 pieces of rye toast.  

The best breakfast ever! egg and cheese on a bagel with a side of blackberries and yogurt. Served with coffee and the 5th Harry Potter book. I'm really gonna miss my mornings off....

Stone Arch Bridge Trail

So yesterday I went for a nice long run with my new friend John. This is the guy who convinced me, while I was drunk late one night in February, to start training for a race of some kind. We ran for 50 minutes straight (other than when my right foot fell asleep), probably about 4.5 miles or so, around a trail at the stone arch bridge. I went on a bike ride around the trail today to take some pictures.

This is where the trail starts. Perfect view of the city.

John said sometimes the water is moving fast enough that it will splash up and cool you off. 

Just really liked this building.

Grainbelt Love!

Kayaking! you can run on some of these bridges, but you can't bike on them :(

Water break. there are several of these located along the trail.

Beautiful!!!

There are a ton of restaurants located along this portion. Can't believe it took me until I was graduated to make it down here. Makes me wonder about all the other things i'm missing.

The hill of death....

John lives less than a mile away from the trial, so I biked to his house (only about a mile) and we left from there. It was a gorgeous day out and I really enjoyed the trail. John knows his way around the trail quite well, and pointed out not only all the wonderful sights, but also the places I could easily stop to get water.(For those of you who don't know, I'm an avid water drinker.) we talked a lot about running while we ran. John informed me of the races he had run, and also about all the different parts of training, and the fact that training for each race is different. So much goes into training, that I'm baffled that anyone ever has time to accomplish such a feat, as running an entire marathon or half marathon. But I will some day. I promise.

All in all, I had a great run, and me and John agreed to try to get together sometime next week to run again.  

Goals/ Reward/ training program

I have a lot of extra time right now since I'm only working 3 days a week, and have no money to spend on extra activities. Pure boredom. So I came up with this plan for training(posted below.) Things will get a bit more complicated when I start my new job and summer school in june. And I just got my schedule for next fall and it looks insane. It's making me doubt my ability to accomplish a half marathon ever. I decided it might be best to put it off until next summer. I don't want to, but I don't know that I'm going to have much time to train while working full time and going to school full time. Anyway I decided what I really need is to set some goals and if I accomplish them I can reward myself.

Goal number 1- Get my teaching license. This should be done on May 11th of next spring. 

Reward- on May 12th I will get a tattoo. I have been wanting to get another one for awhile. on my left hip I will be getting "I hear them all...." This is a quote from one of my favorite songs by Old Crow Medicine Show. This is how I am approaching my teaching. I want to hear every single student, and find ways to help them all. 

Goal number 2- Finish a half marathon by the end of next summer (2012.) 

Reward- Another Tattoo. I know, I've been a bit obsessed since I got the first one. I will be getting "Perfectly Imperfect" tattooed down my right side. This is the way I've tried to start thinking about my body since I've started running. I've wanted this one for a long time, but just couldn't decide where to get it. I want to get it on my foot, but for most job in schools you have to keep tattoos hidden, and I've decided that vertically down my side would be awesome. 

here is my current training program

Sunday- Cross-train or run 2 miles
Monday- Run 2-3 miles
Tuesday- Run 4-5 miles
Wednesday- Cross-train/ Lift
Thursday- Run 2-3 miles
Friday- Run 4-5 miles
Saturday- Rest
Cross-training- 3-4 miles on elliptical or 15-20 miles on bike

There's Too Many Questions to Why I Love You.

I love this weather we've been having :) seriously. I went for a run this morning, and realized I just don't know how the hell people work out in the morning. Everyone says it is the best time of day, but I just don't have enough energy. I ended up walking about half the time. I got up ate and had a nice big glass of water before I went, but this didn't do anything. Surprising considering I'm a morning person and all....

On the plus side, there were some really hot guys outside running without their shirts on. I love summer!

Today I made chocolate cupcakes. my secret ingredient is coffee. Yes, coffee. And I usually try to switch the frosting every once in a while. Today I made cream cheese peanut butter frosting. My magic bullet allowed me to make just enough for the dozen cupcakes I made. I posted the recipe below.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup peanut butter
4 tablespoons low fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup powdered sugar

I just blended these ingredients together until well mixed. So good!!!

Gonna Sing You One More Love Song

I'm officially signed up for my first race, granted it's a short one, but a race none the less. I will be participating in the Annual Dairyfest Cheese Chase 2 mile run in my hometown.

In other news I have been running. quite a bit. Last wednesday I did 4.5 miles, it was so gorgeous out I just couldn't quit. Thursday I did about 3 miles, Friday I did a short 2.5, and Saturday I did 3.5. Saturday was a a slow day. I walked quite a bit, mostly because it was the morning and I was still tired and dehydrated, but also because I had a blister on my foot from the night before. Friday night I went to Northeast Minneapolis down by the river with some friends. This was a great time. It was beautiful down by the river and I wondered why it has taken me so long to get there. I plan on running down there to run once I'm up to my 5-6 mile trail.  Here are some pictures from the evening.

I also talked to the guy who convinced me to start training and decided I'm going to start running with him this summer. It'll be nice to have a running partner this summer because i'll have work all day and class all evening so I won't get around to running until it's darker out, and thus scary and dangerous to run in our neighborhood as a 21 year old female all alone.

Sunday I took off, because my ankle was hurting a bit, and today I did 3.5 miles on the elliptical and 3 miles on the bike at the gym. I hope to run tomorrow morning and cross train again on wednesday. I have the week off of classes, so I spent a lot of my day cleaning.

I also started another blog. I'm posting something daily (the posts are much shorter than on here.) If you'd like to follow here is the link.

Shoot the Moon...

Sickness. I can't seem to shake it. Mono has ruined me. I've spent the entire weekend in my bed, which is not what I had planned for my last spring jam as an undergrad. But we can't control these things, in fact, in life, there isn't much we can control. You can plan for things all you want, but sometimes things just have a way of popping up in a time and place you least expect them.

So my sickness has put me behind in my studying for finals, and has caused me to once again be unable to work out. I can't focus on anything. I feel like tidal waves keep crashing in on me. I feel like I'm finally starting to figure out a small portion of my life, and then some small wave comes crashing in as hard as a typhoon, and washes away the small glint of knowledge I think I've procured. 

So I don't want to spend another blog post just ranting. This post has a point, a small one, but a point no the less. I went to get out my Yogi Sleepy Time Tea (lets face it, i can't afford to lose more sleep,) and a really great thing happened. The tea bag always has a quote on it. And this one had to do with running. Well not really running, but in a way it had to deal with running. 

The quote stated "You can run after satisfaction, but satisfaction must come from within."  I can chase my expectations all I want, but those unexpected things are going to happen. Sickness gets in the way, money gets lost in the shuffle, I might get injured along the way, but satisfaction will be found if I search within myself. I can't find it from anyone else. No person, and certainly no tangible item will leave me satisfied.

Now, one more quick thing I need to get out before I finish this blog post. I should mention that not all of these "tidal waves" are bad. I've had a lot of really great unexpected things happen to me as well.   The best of them was falling in love. I don't think anyone my age goes into a relationship with the intention of falling in love. I found it where I least expected it. And even though it has made the last year of my life a living hell, I'm grateful I found it at all. How's that for ending optimistically? 

Oh, admiration in falling asleep

I cannot wait for this semester to be done with. Seriously my energy level are lower than ever and the effort I'm putting in to my classes is also at an all time low. Ever since last Thursday my stomach feels like it's on a roller coaster. I didn't sleep more than 30 minutes on Sunday night and have been paying the price for it all week.

As you know this weekend was Easter, and my first time being home since Christmas. It was also my first time being in Marshfield and being 21. I spent the entire weekend either drunk or hungover. What a horrible place. Worst of all they had no ginger-ale to mix with my whiskey! Here is a picture of me and my brothers sharing our first drink together with all of us being legal.

Anyway while I was home I also got my first haircut since Christmas, and it was bad. I'm not sure what happened. My mom always cuts my hair (and has always does a wonderful job), but for some reason it ended up looking like a 3 year old had cut a huge chunk out while I was asleep. I guess these things just happen to everyone at some point.

I came home on Sunday and went for a short run, then proceeded to make myself a much needed bloody mary and veggie burger. Thanks for the grill out pink taco ladies :) I then showered and tried to think of a way to fix my hair. I ended up cutting it. and badly. So the next morning I skipped class to go get it fixed. The lady was super nice about it and vowed to keep as much length as possible.

Everyone kept telling me it was just hair and it would grow back, but no one understands. My hair was the longest it has ever been. And it took me 2 years to get it to that length (hardly below my shoulders.) So a bad haircut for me isn't something I have to deal with for a few months, it's something I have to deal for at least a year. Anyway this is what I ended up with.

I don't mind it too much, but I'm not a fan. The worst part is that only about 50% of it fits in a pony tail. I went to the gym on Tuesday and it seriously drove me nuts. The only benefit is that the more I sweat the better it stays up, so this encourages me to work out harder. Guess it's just time to invest in some new barrettes.

I Love Old Songs and What They Know

Finally!

I'm able to run again! At least without being in complete plain. Unfortunately it snowed today. Sunday I wanted to run but was very nervous so I just went for a walk around the neighborhood and took some pictures.I particularly wanted a picture of our new house. I will be living 3 amazing girls, and I'm super excited. Although I love living with my brother and Adam, it's time for a new experience. I hate drama, and therefore have very few girl friends (one of my guy friends says I only invite him to sausage fests) , but I think I picked a great group to live with. Here is a picture of the wonderful house!

Monday I was able to run, yes for real run, about a mile and half. I took short walking breaks whenever I felt the least bit of pain in my ankle. It hurt a bit on tuesday, but today I went to the gym and did 4 miles on the elliptical and jogged a mile on the treadmill (god I hate treadmills.)

In other news, I found a summer job! I will be working for a family who has adopted several children with various disabilities. I met the kids and instantly fell in love. They are a high energy group so I'll have to keep on top of my sleeping and energy levels. I will be working with 1-3 children at a time, doing fun summer activities at the beach, and park, and transporting them to their summer day camps and other activities. The parents suggested that perhaps I work on academic skills with a few of the children as well. I can't wait! I'll be starting there in mid-June, and until then I will be working part time at the library. I'm glad things are starting to work out in my advantage. Now if only all my final projects would do themselves and I didn't have to study for finals....

My Final Project

So I'm in this really stupid freshman level class this year. It's called "creating identity through art and performance." And it is just like it sounds. We act, look at art, write about art, and make art. Our final project is a self portrait. We did one at the beginning of the year, this one was very open ended. You could do just about anything you wanted. I drew a mirror with a little girl peering into it. reflected in the mirror were all the things I thought I wanted out of life, a girl dressed in a white dress, a house wife, a happy family, a cross, and a teacher. I then drew a path away from the little girl. On this path I put pictures of all the things that had changed; me with my girlfriends, my rebellious side (tattoo, nose piercing)me with my current family, me at concerts (new religion), and most importantly a picture of me teaching. I wanted to show that since coming to college almost everything in my life has changed.

When we got our assignment for the next final project I did a lot of reflecting. Instantly my mind went to what I want my new tattoo to be.  "Perfectly Imperfect" inscribed down my side. The only real requirement of this project was that we use two artistic mediums. For example I could write a song and take a picture, or paint and act. I decided immediately to write and do a Photo-montage.

As I continued to think more and more I thought about, instead, doing it on running. It has seriously been a huge part of my life this semester. It's gotten me through a lot this last year. I ended up writing a small portion of the perfectly imperfect poem and then knew I just couldn't do it.

Then I decided to do a runner outlined in black as the centerpiece to my artwork. So I cut her out, and then i wrote a poem. I had no idea what my background would look like, or where the poem would take me. When I finished writing the poem I highlighted words that stood out to me, and what was most important. I came up with the title "Bitter Rush" for the piece as a whole. I was going to just do a green or yellow background to represent Bitterness, but it seemed important to get rush in there somehow. Water came to mind right away so I looked up pictures of it, and before I bore you anymore with explanations here it is. I'm very happy with how it turned out :)

My Top 10 Reasons for Running

Not being able to run much the last few weeks has really got me thinking about why I love it so much. So I made a top ten list.

Number 10- It’s easy. I know it may seem like running is a hard sport, and in some ways it is. But as one very uncoordinated person I can tell you it’s the easiest one for me. Anyone can do it, if you set your mind to it.

Number 9- It burns calories, thus allowing me to not feel so bad about eating a lot of them (mostly healthy.)

Number 8- My future health. There are a lot of benefits for my future. Especially for my heart, and since I’m inheriting heart issues from both of my grandpas its important for me to think about this.

Number 7- Better Skin- seriously. Fewer pimples. All that sweat really helps release toxins from your skin. Currently (after 2-3weeks of not running) I have several pimples on my face and my chest. Yuck!

Number 6- Easier Periods. I know this doesn’t apply to you boys, but a replacement reason for you could be that it improves sex skills. ;) In high school my periods lasted 9 days long, I had horrible cramps, bad migraines, and became nauseous often. One of my teachers even commented to my mother that I always did terrible on my quiz the 3^rd week of the month. He didn’t get it. Freshman year I went on birth control because I knew I couldn’t afford to do bad on any quiz. My periods got a bit easier, lasted less times, had fewer cramps, migraines, and nausea Recently I decided to go off birth control (for personal reasons) and figured my periods would get worse. But, I skipped a month, and the month after that was a breeze. I hope this pattern continues :)

Number 5- My sleep schedule. Since I moved into this house, for whatever reason I’ve had problems sleeping. Several times my mother has suggested doing a sleep study, and I have refused. Since I started running I rarely have issues with sleep.

Number 4- Energy Levels. These last two weeks (not running due to injury) I have been so lazy it is unbelievable. Running seriously boosts my energy levels, and keeps me going.

Number 3- It’s a stress reducer. No lies. I’m way less stressed when I’m able to run.

Number 2- It’s me time. I can leave the entire world behind. I get lonely a lot, but a lot of the time I wish everyone around me would just leave me alone. Running is my time to be by myself, with my music, contemplating what I want and who I want to be.

Number 1- It increases my self confidence. Since I started running I know my body doesn’t look any different. I still have my little baby bump (I like to joke that I look 3 months preggers, and really I do sometimes shop in the maternity sections of stores) and I still have stretch marks on my quads, and I still have what I refer to as a part double chin. I never used to have low self-esteem. In high school I had a flat belly, nice legs, and a generally perfect body. Best of all I could eat whatever I wanted. When I came to college I started eating dorm food, and started snacking all the time. I gained 10 pounds freshman year. Since I started running I have gained an additional 7. If you had told me 4 years ago that I would be a self-conscious freak I would not have believed you, but I am. Somehow though, even though I still see all these “terrible” features of myself I feel better about who I am. And I'm not just more confident about my looks, I'm also more confident about my choices.

That's it. There are a lot more benefits of running. I suggest if you are runner you make your own list. it's very encouraging.

The Tables Turn!

Things are starting to look up. My ankle is still very swollen. I went for one short 1 mile run on Wednesday, but I stopped as soon as it started to hurt. I've mostly just been walking home from class everyday.Not getting exercise has been killing me. For example last night I slept 11 hours and I'm still exhausted!

As far as the accident goes it was way more than I expected, but since I didn't get ticketed for being at fault my insurance is going to cover the accident and my rates will not be going up :) (as long as I'm not at fault for another major accident in the next few years.)

Also! we got a house! A really awesome one too. When we went to look at houses a few weeks ago we met this random couple out walking their dog and they informed us they were looking for someone to lease to this year. After looking at the house we fell in love, but knew we couldn't afford the 2200 they were asking per month for it. One of my roommates is currently studying abroad in France, so her mom was with us. She contacted the lady and said that while we loved the house we simple couldn't afford to pay more that 1800 a month. But our nice future landlord said she  loved us so much she would love to have us live there and would offer the house to us at 1800 a month! We are getting a super nice place, with tons of space, and super nice landlords! I can't wait to move in.

We had our first grill-out thursday night and I had my first battle with vegitarianism. I almost gave in and had a brat, but I'm remaining strong.

A Box of Rain...

Sometimes it seems life just won't cut you a break. My ankle is still killing me, but I had to go for a run on Friday. I was so mad! I missed my interview because the address they gave me directed me to an empty building. apparently I was in the right place, but somehow must have missed the guy waiting to greet me. So after driving around looking for the place for about 30 minutes I went home and put on my running shoes. I ran about a mile and then walked the mile home. Saturday was so beautiful that I went for a run, but ended up walking most of it. I still have no idea what I did to my poor ankle :( I think I'm going to try to stay off of it this week. Maybe cross train a few days. My mom says if it doesn't start feeling better soon I should get it checked out.

I then headed to a campfire/grill-out with Daryn and Adam, and afterward went to a Pert Near Sandstone concert to celebrate Daryn's birthday. Sunday morning I woke up and took Daryn to pick up his car at John and Eileens. and of course I got in my very first car accident. :( This lady decided to drive in the middle of the street instead of on the appropriate side. I took a left turn and waited because I could see clearly I wasn't going to be able to go in between the car parked on one side and this lady waiting at a stop sign in the middle of the street. After a while she moved over a bit and I thought I could fit through. Wrong! I scraped the park car on the side. And so my impatience will now be costing me a few hundred bucks. grrrr....

I still had to come to work, but luckily got to listen to some music right away. Of course "Gravity Rides Everything" by Modest Mouse came on right away and made me feel so much better. "It all will fall, fall right into place." And then Grateful Dead's "Box of Rain" came on. My iPod always does such a great job of making me feel better. 

I was super nervous about calling my parents but they are so supportive. I'm so grateful for them. Then entire time my mom just kept saying to me "Tiara, no one go hurt and that's what is important. Cars are replaceable people are not, and money is just money. It comes and it goes." And she's right. They guy I hit has also been super nice about everything.

Furious!

The title is because I'm currently enjoying a wonderful Surly Furious. It's yummy!
So my injury is not shin splints. I did something to my ankle and I have no idea what. I've been looking at picture of ankle bones/muscles, and it appears it's in my fibula. This is the most tender part of the injury.

To say I've had a difficult time dealing with the injury would be an understatement. It's not that I'm in a huge amount of pain or anything (far from it) I just am unable to run in this gorgeous weather. I mean, seriously, someone is punishing me for something. I get injured and for the next 3 or so days the weather is perfect for running. It's so frustrating. I've been walking home from class everyday, but that's about all I can handle. I bought some athletic wrap and an ice pack from target on monday and have been wearing the wrap almost all day long, and am icing it about 3-4 times a day for about 10 minutes each time. I really hope it gets better by Saturday because the weather is supposed to be super nice, and I don't have anything to do except laundry and a shit ton of homework. I want to drive down to the Mississippi and run 5 miles or so. I might have to either cut the mileage down or not go at all :( :(

Other than that this week has been a breeze. I spent Monday and Tuesday night house hunting, and I think we found a really great one, but we are going to scope out our options and look at two more next monday. As far as summer jobs go I still have not heard back about the nanny job. I have an interview for the summer reads program on friday, but they would pay me less than minimum wage and I'd only be working for 6 weeks of the summer. I talked to my boss today and he said I could work part time at the library, although I would not be making as much as I would need to be. It's nice to have a backup plan though. I might talk to him about the possibility of working there in May at least. Even if I do get a nanny job I won't be starting until the kids are out of school in June. I do not want to be sitting around doing nothing for 4 weeks. I'd want to kill myself! I have 4 papers and a midterm next week though so it's time to get on top of my game. My grades have been way, waaaaaaay down this semester. In fact, I don't think I've had a grade this close to failing in my entire life. On that note, it's time to go work on some of these papers.

Going Vegetarian/ My First Injury

Things are not going well! I turned down Daryn for happy hour on Friday to go to the gym. This was an alright workout, surprisingly. I went out to the bars Friday night and woke up saturday morning feeling great. I had to work Saturday, so I skipped the gym, but did walk the 2 miles home :) it was so sunny out! Saturday night me and Chris went to Spoon Fusion in Apple Valley, and I tasted Mock Duck for the first time and Tofu for the second. I fell in love with the Tofu!

I've been wanting to go Vegetarian for quite some time and decided last week, once I used up all the meat in my house on Sunday, that I was going to try it out. So far I've been very good. I don't eat meat very often anyway, so it hasn't been terribly hard. I know the worst will be giving up burgers. I love them. But veggie burgers are good too :P I also realized I need to branch out what I eat. I plan on trying to do oatmeal for breakfast everyday. I'll class it up by adding some craisins, yogurt, and a bit of brown sugar to it. If i don't have time to make breakfast I'll plan on a granola bar. For morning snack I'm going to have a piece of fruit. (since I wake up so early morning snack is necessary, unless I want to fall asleep in class.) Lunch will consist of salad with low fat dressing of some sort, and some form of snacky food(pita chips, carrots), and some form of protein (cheese, peanut butter, hard boiled egg.) Dinner will be my chance to branch out. I usually eat pasta or pizza. This is okay to do 2-3 nights a week, but I really need to try new things at least once a week. I have a large stock of recipes I've been saving from allrecipes.com, and it's time to start making my way through them. I started tonight. I made Zucchini Herb Casserole. (shown above) I switched the recipe up a little bit, but it was really good and best of all there are leftovers! I had some low fat yogurt for desert and it was delicious :) I'm really bad when it comes to sweets and this is something I really need to work on. Last week I made myself homemade fro-yo a few nights. I used frozen strawberries, low fat yogurt, and chocolate milk and blended them together in my magic bullet. This was delicious!

In other news I injured myself on my run this morning. I ran 2 and half miles and felt fine, but afterwards I walked the 2 miles to go see "Hamlet" for my performing arts class. The walk was fine, but I think sitting in such a small area for 3 hours straight after that much exercise was not what my leg needed. I wanted to walk home, just because it's so nice out, but ended up taking the bus. I think I have shin splints, probably due to either uneven surfaces or just working my body too hard too fast. I would blame it on the new shoes but I wore my old ones today.  I have just been mostly resting since I got home and have already iced it once. I plan to do so at least 2 more times tonight. It feels a bit better already. I'll be taking tomorrow off anyway to go look at a house and meet up with some friends I haven't seen in awhile. I'll probably try to take the rest of the week easy, depending on how I'm feeling. I may just do cross-training all week, or light walking.

Life, It Rents Us!

Friday I went for a short run outside, but it was much cooler and I was all sorts of hungover from St Patty's Day, so I only made it 2 miles. (damn you 2 dollar you call-it's at B-loco!) Saturday I met my mom, grandma, and niece in Eau Claire for a bit of shopping and lunch. ! I got a few new shirts, one being an awesome $4 flannel, a $10 pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, and some new white tanks. and best of all my dad told my mom to buy me some new running shoes! my old ones were getting quite worn out so I'm super excited about the new ones! I tried on a bunch of "female" ones and none seemed to fit me right, so i thought, what the heck, might as well try on some male ones and I loved the first pair I tried on! I got a pair of Asic GT 2150's for only 60 bucks! Thanks for the early graduation present Mom and Dad!

Saturday night I went to Vertical Endeavors with Adam, Tony, and Chris. It was a really good day of strengthening. My arms were all sorts of sore on Sunday. I climbed about 3 walls all the way up to the top and did an additional 5 or so half walls. I want to go again sometime soon. On friday's they have ladies night and college ID night, so it's half off if you go after 5pm and are either a lady or a college student. Let me know if you want to go! I think it was around $25dollars this time, so it'd be less than $15. It's a good deal for such a great experience.

Sunday I got to run for a bit with my training buddy. I ran without my iPod, which was different, but a nice change, surprisingly. Afterward we did some lunges and jump roping, which made my legs super sore. I did a bit of arm lifting, but was extremely weak from the rock climbing.

Monday I ran outside, but it was super windy and not much fun at all. Plus I was hella sore from sunday. I could hardly bend over to get books from the bottom shelf at work, and don't even get me started on climbing the 3 flights of stairs to math class. Monday night I went to the Roe Family Singers at the 331 club. They were amazing! Best bluegrass in town. And their monday night special is 2 vodka or gin and tonics for $5! woohooo! Tuesday I had off of practicum (their spring break is this week, ) so I went to St. Paul gym to run the track for a bit and I did a bit of lifting, but was once again very sore. I tried to do lunges, but couldn't even do half as many as on sunday.

I felt loads better on Wednesday. I went to Gradfest after math and did my stupid exit interview for graduation. Basically they just tell you how much you owe the University and show you how impossible it will be to pay off the loans even if you get a good paying job. I felt like life was crashing down on me after this so I headed straight to the gym to work off some of the pressure. It helped while I was there (thanks Modest Mouse and Rage Against the Machine!), but upon returning home I immediately locked myself in my room and did a bit of crying. It's been quite some time since I have done this, and I have to say it felt good. I allowed myself 5 minutes of self-loathing and then decided it was time to start studying for my midterm.

I was going to go to the gym Thursday morning, but I had an interview at 11 and really needed to do some more studying for my midterm, so I made a cup of coffee and did another hour of studying. Then headed to my interview. It went really well. I'd be working for a family who has adopted 11 children with special needs (and they are getting two more this summer!) I'm going to go to their house some night next week to meet them all, and it sounds like if I think it'll be a good fit the job is mine! woohoo!!!

Gonna try to make it to the gym a few times this weekend since early next week I have a lot of other stuff going on. Can't wait until the snow is all melted (again) and it's sunny out so I can run outside again :)

Love is Just a Shackle I See

I wasn't going to blog again this soon, but yesterday I went for my first run outside, and today I read a great chapter in my book and I just feel like I need to write.

So I plotted out about a 3 mile course yesterday to one of the schools I worked in last spring and back to my house, and of course cutting through my favorite running trail. It felt so nice to be outside again! I started out jumping around and over puddles and sometimes I would slow down to walk around the big ones. When I reached my favorite short 2 block "trail" a particular song came on. The same exact song that came on when I first discovered the trail last fall. I dont' know why I love this trail. It's so short and located right next to the noisy I-35, but there's just something about feeling like I'm out in the woods and knowing that I'm near the center of the city. About a mile in I started running through the puddles. The cool wetness felt good on my feet anyway. When I was almost home I knew I needed to do a cool-down, but I just wasn't ready to stop running yet, so I did another loop around part of my old course. When I got home I realized I still needed to do a cool down, but at this instant "Corrina" by Taj Mahal came on and it was the perfect pace for jogging, so I jogged to my "cotemplation" spot. This area is only about 3 blocks away from my house, but it's where I always go when I'm feeling down about life. It reminds me what I want, and what I'm working for. I wanted to see if the snow had melted enough for me to get there yet. If I wore water proof boots I could trudge through the slush and make it. I then walked home.

I felt really good about my run, although for some reason I was bloated afterward? I had some fizzy water and made some pasta for dinner and then headed to Daryn's new band's show. Wow! They were awesome. Anyway today I'm sore. Especially my legs. When I went back to process books at work "Multiply" by Jamie Lidell came on. I moved and grooved a bit and felt better after this.

This afternoon I have been sitting at the desk for what feels like forever, and I'm not currently on chapter 25 of my book. I love it. So many tips and pointers. Anyway the last chapter was very interesting. Scattered throughout the books are chapters that have almost nothing to do with running. She writes these, mostly, about relationships she been in. The last chapter I read seems like something I could have written. She titled it "The Breakup" and it begins with her talking about how she doesn't want to run, but after she gets going she feels better somehow, as if shes working out all the anguish and bitterness of her recent breakup. In then end she finishes her workout feeling better, but as soon as she gets in the shower she starts crying, realizing that she can't run away from her emotions. This is it. This is the reason why I started running. To escape. And she's right, it doesn't work. But those 20 or so minutes, when you feel like you've worked through your issues, feel so great and are so addicting, that you keep coming back for more.

She then comments about how she later becomes friends with her ex and when he asks her why it didn't work out she responds by saying "It did. This is what it looks like, sometimes, to have something workout." This is it. This is what I want. I need to get to this point. Last year when I commented that I needed to "get over the relationship"  a very important person told me that it's not about "getting over" the relationship. He said the relationship is still here, but it's changing into something new, something new and better. I want to get there, and I know I will, in my own time.

Running has become my escape. But not just from my self-loathing, or my pain anymore. It's the stress of everyday life. All of the assignments,  the waking up at 5am to get to work, the fear that I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing with my life. The fear that I won't be a good teacher. Running is my escape from all of this. And that's why I love it. Running is my "me time." Me and my music :)

When I Die I'll Rot. But When I Live, I'll Give It All I've Got!

So yesterday I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. It was horrible. I ran at a 10:54 pace except for during "Age of Adz" where I ran at a 10:31 pace. Amazing what great music can do:) Thus the title of this blog post. It should be noted that I considered get these lyrics permanently engraved on my body.Anyway, my right foot fell asleep again. Damn treadmills! I wanted to do strengthening, but felt like an idiot trying to use the equipment so I hopped on an elliptical for about 7 minutes and used a super high cross-ramp. I ran into Becky, so I stretched out with her and had a nice talk about boys. Then I walked home cause it was super nice out :)

Today I was so excited to run outside, but when I got done with work it was rainy:( I also didn't feel well so I came home and told myself if i was running a fever I wouldn't go to the gym. I was not running a fever so I headed to the gym. And boy am I glad I did :)

I started with 5 minutes of stretching and a 10 minute ab workout. After this, I did about 15 minutes of lifting. I only used 4 pieces of equipment, but I'm still proud. Then I walked one fourth of a mile and jogged about a fourth of a mile for a warm up. Then I started running to Sufjans song "Too Much." at the end of this song I noticed I had already finished a few laps over a half a mile (a mile is 18 laps.) The song was only a little over 6 minutes long, so I was kind of proud and decided to power through and do an entire mile and time myself. I ran it in 10:23! woohoo!!! (That's really good for me) The plan was to jog a half mile after this, but "Brickhouse" was on, (Thanks for putting it on the Badger Hers mix Rod) so I ran another half a mile! It was the perfect song to keep me going. Then I slowed down and did a few laps of jogging and then a few of walking, followed by a few more jogging and a few more walking. Then I did some more stretching, and walked to my car. It was of course sunny and gorgeous by this point. It was one hell of a workout.

Afterwards I decided it was about time to do some baking. I've been under some serious emotional stress recently, and baking always helps me relax. I decided to do something for St. Patricks day and thought what could I bake with Guinness? So I looked up a chocolate stout cupcake recipe and decided I would just have to add coffee to it, since coffee goes so perfectly with chocolate. They were amazing! Picture on the side.

Tomorrow I plan to head to the running trail over by the school I work at. It is right on the Mississippi and I really want to try it out while I have the time to drive.I have been trying really hard to not eat as much sugar, and use portion control, but somehow in the midst of this all I've gained like 2 pounds. Not to mention the 4 pounds I gained the first six weeks of this year. This is what I get from switching from working out 1-2 days a week to working out an average of 4. Oh well! I'm just gonna blame it on all the muscle I'm gaining.  Notice also I've started a list of songs for my "marathon mix" on the right side under my about me section.

I see what I cannot hear. I fear what I cannot fear.

Things have been going good. Other than my sickness. I ran for 30 minutes on Sunday and did 2.7 miles. I realized however that while my lungs are in fairly good shape my legs are not. The first mile was extremely tough on my legs, and if I took a walking/water break it was even harder to get back into running. But after the first mile I felt great! This made me realize I really need to do some lifting to strengthen my muscles.  I tried a few pieces of equipment, but was sort of confused. Would anyone be willing to show me their lifting routine? I really want to start lifting one day a week.
Monday I did 30 minutes on an elliptical. This was great because I had a migraine all day, and working out helped me get rid of it for about an hour. Then it came back so I went to bed at like 9. I was super duper sick on Tuesday (I think I had a miniature stomach flu) and I had to work on a presentation for my Behavioral Analysis class. This morning I had class cancelled! So I made it to the gym and did about 2.8 miles in 33 minutes (see how much I hate treadmills?) and my right foot fell asleep around mile 2 yet again. I need to get this checked out if it keeps happening, cause it's not fun.
I also started reading my book "Personal Record" and love it so far. The author set it up just like a marathon, so the first chapters are easy and short and then they get longer and harder. There are 26.2 chapters as well. Hilarious! The first chapter is about the runners body. It all sounds very displeasing to me, except for the flat belly and the skipping periods. The chapter I just finished is about how many shoes runners have in their closet. This made me realize that I need to get at least one pair of running shoes soon.  Spring Break shopping anyone???
Well I'm gonna skip the gym tomorrow for another happy hour date, but I'll be running Friday after work and then Saturday I'm going to try to do cross training and lifting. I'll be heading to Cloud Town on Saturday night, but i'll try to make it to the gym again Sunday night. Spring break week will be training central.

It's Still A Little Hard to Say, What's Going On.

So I made it to the gym after work. I ran 2 miles at about a 10:40 pace and walked half a mile as well. Toward the end of my 2nd mile my right foot fell asleep. Unsure as to why this happened. I've also been noticing that my right leg is a lot more sore than my left. This may be because I severely bruised the right side of my hip/ass. It could also be due to the fact that I broke my right leg when I was 2 and thus my left leg is slightly longer than my right. It was overall a terrible work-out, but I had a good night afterward.

I went home and had a few drinks and dinner while listening to Daryn's band play. Then I went to a "progressive rock" concert in Maple Grove with Chris and Becky. I wasn't sure what to expect, but they were a really good band. I was only there for about an hour and a half and they played 3 Led Zeppelin songs. Picture of me and Becky at the concert is at the left. All of Chris's friends were super nice, and best of all they all wanted to dance :) Anyway I was suppose to do cross training this morning but opted out because I needed to do laundry and I feel like I may be coming down with some sort of sickness. I'll cross train at Daryn's bluegrass concert tonight, where I plan on dancing my ass off.
Today I got to the Library for work a bit early so I decided to find myself some reading for over spring break. I found a book titled "Personal Record: a Love Affair With Running." It's all about a girl's experience with training for and running the Boston Marathon. We will see if I have time to get around to it with all the traveling, working, and homework I will be doing. Speaking of homework I should probably get back to working on my paper.

My Own Training Program

So forget being sore from running, I haven't run since Monday and I'm super duper sore. This morning I took a huge fall on the ice and hurt my hip/ass. I was fine all day, but after walking home from Harry Potter with Daryn tonight it suddenly started to hurt and I'm in pain.

The past few days have been so busy that I haven't had time to work out at all. Tuesday evening I helped at an event for the CEHD undergraduate student board. We got together with several alumni to "Make a Connection." It was a great event about 9 alumni showed and about 20 students. I got to meet an older gentleman who worked for the MN department of education for 20 years, so that was quite interesting and I brought home a ton of leftover food. I've been trying to eat as vegetarian as possible, but I brought home chicken, and that is all I have been eating since. Wednesday I had a meeting with the CEHD alumni (I'm the student representative) and then immediately had to head over to west bank to see a play for my "creating identity through arts and performance" (aka bullshit) class. I got home at about 10:30 and passed out. Tonight I met Daryn, a few of his co-workers and my friend Chris for happy hour (best breakfast stout ever!) and then went to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1." I know I could easily have skipped this, but relationships are also a priority in my life, and Daniel Radcliffe just couldn't wait.

Anyway I've been talking to a lot of people about my training and the more I talk to them the more I realize I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I talked the CEHD alumni president about it and she's taken part in 6 marathons and 3 half marathons. When she asked me what training program I was using I replied with "my own" and she gave me a really weird look. So when I got home I began researching and found that most of them were the same, but were all 3 month training programs. So, the plan is to stick to my own right now, until about July or August, depending on which race I take part in. Here's what my plan looks like for March:
Running- 2-3 miles 2-3 days per week.
Cross-Training- 30 minutes elliptical 2-3 times per week
Stretching/Lifting- 20 minutes- 1 day a week
1-2 rest days.
All my days will of course include stretch, warm up, cool downs, and an ab workout.

Well that's all for now. I'll probably up the mileage in April and might switch my cross-training to biking when it gets nice out. I fully plan to do 2-3 miles after work tomorrow, but we will see how sore I am.

Forget Regret, Or Life is Yours to Miss

So I decided to title my blog entries with either song titles or song lyrics that I enjoyed, or songs that motivated me while running. That way, by the time I'm done training I'll have a decently long playlist compiled.

Today was quite the rough day. I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night (not sure why) and I had a midterm. I went to work from 7-10 and then found out my morning class was cancelled, so I came home to "sleep." I don't sleep during the day. Ever. So I just laid in my bed with my eyes closed for a bit. Then I went and took my geometry midterm, which I think I did well on. I got done with class an hour early hit the gym, even though I was exhausted, because I won't be able to go the next 3 days due to engagements with CEHD undergraduate student board, the alumni society, seeing a play for class, happy hour at downtime, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. I'm going to try to make it on Friday after work, Saturday morning (easy workout,) and Sunday night.

I timed myself today. I pushed myself for the first mile and my time was 10:20. The second mile I took extremely easy and my time was 11:30. So I'd say 11:00 is decently close to what my time would be if i truly paced myself.

I started doing research and found out that there is no half-marathon for the Twin Cities Marathon, but there is a 10 mile option. Otherwise I'm currently looking at this half-marathon as another option.
http://www.trail-loppet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

On a side note: I hate treadmills and cannot wait for the snow to all melt away and it to be about 50 degrees so I can actually enjoy running outside again.

The Beginning

This starts the beginning of my very first blog. I've been wanting to start one for awhile, but just haven't had anything super exciting going on in my life. I guess I still don't, but I'm going to start one anyway. Saturday night I had a nice talk with one of my best friends co-workers and he convinced me that since I love running so much I should start training for something. That night I made a conscious decision to start training for a Marathon. After further thought and conversation with others I decided that perhaps a half-marathon would be a better idea since I've only been running for about a year, and have hardly run at all this winter. I convinced one of my best friends to start training with me last night, and so it begins! In this blog I will post running times, write about my pleasure and frustration with training, and will probably comment a lot about the music that keeps me going. You may also see posts about my stresses with classes, and posts about my utter "freak-outs" about my future. Feel free to leave comments and to give me advice. (I'm a novice at both running and blogging, so I'll need a lot of it.)

My whole enjoyment of running started last summer after a seriously "bad" breakup. I say "bad" because it wasn't awful, just long and drawn out. I used running as my outlet for all my anger and frustration, and grew to actually enjoy it (as long as I have my iPod.) 

I have no idea what my current running time is. At the end of last summer it was around 10:15 or 10:30, so I have a lot of room to improve. I started a workout plan in January and have gotten my mile time on the elliptical to be about 9:30, with my best time being 9:07. If i had to guess my actual running mile time I'd say it's about 11:00 (maybe higher.)

Current Goal: Have my mile time down to 9:45 by the end of March, and lose 5 lbs, by the end of July.
On a side note: Another goal I've had for quite some time is to cut some of the sugar I eat out of my diet, and just eat healthier in general. I also need to start getting more sleep at night. 5-6 hours just isn't going to cut it anymore. 

Alright people! Here we go!!!